University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Debuts College Division at Volunteer Track Classic
April 16, 2009 | Women's Track
April 16, 2009
Meet Notes in PDF Format | College Division Heat Sheets in PDF Format 
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- For the first time in its 46-year history, the Volunteer Track Classic will include college athletes. The sixth-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols will entertain a women's collegiate field that will also include Alabama, Carson-Newman and Ohio State in a non-scored competition held in conjunction with the long-time high school meet.
The 20-event college division will feature three races and four field events on Friday at UT's Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium, beginning with the hammer throw at noon. The 3000m steeplechase kicks off the action during the evening session at 5 p.m., followed by the shot put, pole vault, triple jump, 4x800m relay and 3000 meters.
Saturday's 13-event slate gets underway at 10:30 a.m. with the 400m hurdles. The 100m hurdles are next at 12:30 p.m., followed by the 4x100m relay, discus, high jump, 1500m, long jump, 100m, javelin, 400m, 800m, 200m and 4x400m relay. The 4x4 is projected to begin at 4:35 p.m.
"I believe John Frazier (assistant coach for throws) really had the idea of doing this (adding a college section to the traditional high school meet)," UT Head Coach J.J. Clark said. "He ran it by me, and I okayed it. It's a good concept, we don't have to travel, it saves money, we run in front of our home fans, and we get to sleep in our own beds and get a little more rest."
Tennessee is coming off a fine home performance at the Sea Ray Relays last weekend, where the squad won eight events and charted six new NCAA regional qualifying marks. Junior Lynne Layne was named the Tony Wilson Award winner as the meet's most valuable performer for women's running events and also collected SEC Runner of the Week acclaim. Rookie Chanelle Price, meanwhile, was named SEC Freshman of the Week for her efforts.
"It's good to be at home again," Clark said of UT's second straight appearance at Tom Black Track. "It's good to be able to have a small meet here again and work on some technical things on certain athletes, whether it's the throws or the hurdles, and be able to get some different work in with the middle distances.
"It's a nice tune-up for our bigger meet next week (Penn Relays), and we look forward to putting everyone together and getting ready for that and having a solid meet this week. It's a new experience, being a part of the high school meet, but I believe it will be successful."
Twelve Lady Vols thus far have earned qualification to the NCAA Mideast Regional in Louisville, Ky., on May 29-30. Among that group are junior Phoebe Wright, a qualifier in the 400m, 800m, 1500m and 4x400m relay, and Sarah Bowman, who made the regional field via the 800m, 1500m and 5000m. Wright and Bowman are projected to run on UT's 4x800m relay on Friday and take part in the 400m and 800m, respectively, and the 4x400m relay on Saturday.
Sprinter/hurdler/jumpers to watch include senior Celriece Law in the 100m hurdles, 100m and 200 meters, and long jump, and junior Lynne Layne in the 100m, 200m and long jump. They also run on Tennessee's 4x100m relay. Currently, Law is an NCAA regional qualifier in the 100m and 100m hurdles, while Layne is in via the 100m and 200m.
Field event standouts include sophomore thrower Annie Alexander and senior pole vaulter Alicia Essex. Alexander has made the regional cut in the shot and discus, while Essex is a qualifier in the pole vault. Alexander won the shot put at Sea Rays last weekend, while Essex took the vault with a career-best leap of 13-7 1/4 that was a half inch off the school record.
Tennessee is slated to run 4x100m, 4x400m and 4x800m relays. The Big Orange is regionally qualified in the 4x4 and hopes to add the 4x1 to the list.
Top competitors for Alabama include Kimberley Laing in the 100m hurdles, Angelica Howard in the hammer throw and Krystle Schade and Chealsea Taylor in the high jump. Ohio State's top athletes are Letecia Wright in the 100m hurdles, middle distance runner Jordan Jennewine and sprinters Ayrizanna Favours and Bever-Leigh Holloway.
For live results from the meet, go to www.utladyvols.com and click on "live results" on the front daily schedule or on the schedule page.
| FRIDAY, APRIL 17 | ||
| Hammer Throw (Regional: 177-8/54.15m) Noon | ||
| Akeela Bravo, Laquoya Kelly, Holly Kane, Christine Coppola | ||
| 3000m Steeplechase (Regional: 10:50.25) 5:00 p.m. | ||
| No Lady Vols Entered | ||
| Shot Put (Regional: 46-11/14.30m) 5:00 p.m. | ||
| Annie Alexander, Laquoya Kelly, Akeela Bravo | ||
| Pole Vault (Regional: 12-7.50/3.85m) 5:00 p.m. | ||
| Alicia Essex | ||
| Triple Jump (Regional: 40-5/12.32m) 5:00 p.m. | ||
| No Lady Vols Entered | ||
| 4x800m Relay (Not An NCAA Event) 6:25 p.m. | ||
| A: Rolanda Bell/Sarah Bowman/Chanelle Price/Phoebe Wright | ||
| B: Jackie Areson/Ramzee Fondren/Kimarra McDonald/Kim White | ||
| 3000m (Not An NCAA Event) 9:10 p.m. | ||
| Michele Levy, Elizabeth Tiller | ||
| SATURDAY, APRIL 18 | ||
| 400mH (Regional: 1:00.82) 10:30 a.m. | ||
| Ellen Wortham, Amanda Alexander | ||
| 100mH (Regional: 13.92) Noon | ||
| Celriece Law, Chardae Hancock | ||
| 4x100m Relay (Regional: 45.70) 12:30 p.m. | ||
| Chardae Hancock/Ashley Harris/Celriece Law/Lynne Layne | ||
| Discus (Regional: 155-2/47.30m) 12:30 p.m. | ||
| Annie Alexander, Akeela Bravo, Christine Coppola | ||
| High Jump (Regional: 5-8.75/1.75m) 12:30 p.m. | ||
| Ellen Wortham | ||
| 1500m (Regional: 4:27.80) 1:05 p.m. | ||
| Jackie Areson, Elizabeth Altizer, Ramzee Fondren | ||
| Long Jump (Regional: 19-8.25/6.00m) 2:00 p.m. | ||
| Lynne Layne, Celriece Law | ||
| 100m (Regional: 11.75) 2:15 p.m. | ||
| Lynne Layne, Celriece Law, Ellen Wortham, Ashley Harris, Chardae Hancock, Amanda Alexander | ||
| Javelin (Regional: 142-6/43.45m) 2:15 p.m. | ||
| Holly Kane, Brittany Napoli | ||
| 400m (Regional: 54.61) 2:35 p.m. | ||
| Phoebe Wright, Chanelle Price, Ellen Wortham, Amanda Alexander, Kimarra McDonald, Kim White | ||
| 800m (Regional: 2:09.80) 2:50 p.m. | ||
| Sarah Bowman, Rolanda Bell, Elizabeth Altizer, Kim White, Charity Honeycutt, Chelsea Knotts | ||
| 200m (Regional: 23.96) 3:40 p.m. | ||
| Lynne Layne, Celriece Law, Ashley Harris, Amanda Alexander, Chardae Hancock | ||
| 4x400m Relay (Regional: 3:42.00) 4:35 p.m. | ||
| A: Brittany Jones/Chanelle Price/Ellen Wortham/Phoebe Wright | ||
| B: Amanda Alexander/Sarah Bowman/Ramzee Fondren/Kimarra McDonald | ||
* All Times Eastern
KEY
# - NCAA Regional Qualifier, * - NCAA Automatic Qualifier, + - NCAA Provisional Qualifier, ! - Personal Record (Outdoors), dnf - Did Not Finish, dnq - Did Not Qualify, dnr - Did Not Run, dns - Did Not Start, dq - Disqualified, f - Facility Record, fs - False Start, h - Hand Times, nm - No Mark, p - Prelims, s - School Record (Outdoors).
